PTC recently unveiled a groundbreaking achievement in additive manufacturing at the LiveWorx 2023 event. They unveiled a “fully additively manufactured jet engine”, weighing around 3.6kg, which was designed using PTC’s Creo CAD software. PTC.
The project was spearheaded by Dr. Ronen Ben Horin, Vice President of Technology at PTC and Senior Research Fellow at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, along with Beni Cukurel, Associate Professor of Aerospace at the Technion. Their goal was to create a self-contained microturbojet engine that required no assembly, including all rotating and stationary components, representing a significant advance in design for additive manufacturing (DfAM).
PTC’s Creo software played a crucial role in the design process, leveraging its advanced capabilities for lattice modeling and generative design. This allowed material and weight reduction while maintaining engine strength and performance. Creo beam-based lattices automatically optimized designs for additive manufacturing, and the software supported self-supporting formula-driven lattices, which could be tuned for manufacturing efficiencies.
In addition, Creo was compatible with various additive manufacturing equipment, making the build and post-processing stages easier. The software’s 3D component design capabilities also enabled traditional machining for precise assembly. Additionally, Creo offered a variety of formats, including 3MF, for outputting 3D models to different printing technologies on the market.
PTC’s fully additive manufacturing jet engine represents a remarkable achievement in the field of additive manufacturing and demonstrates the power of advanced design software like Creo to push the boundaries of what is possible in this field. This breakthrough opens up new possibilities for high-performance, lightweight engine designs, with potential applications in aviation and other industries.
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